Kennedy Space Center, FL â€“ Space Florida, the principal organization charged by the Florida Legislature with promoting and developing Floridaâ€™s aerospace industry, today announced that it will be a new preferred partner and Florida will become the first preferred launch site for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. Each preferred partner offers additional prizes or strategic services at a discounted rate to all competition teams.

As the first preferred launch site, Space Florida will award an additional prize of $2 million to the Grand Prize winner of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, provided the winner launched the winning flight from the State of Florida and upon confirmation that the winner has complied with all competition rules.

Space Florida was created by the Florida Legislature to sustain Florida's position as the global leader in space exploration and commerce, and is the principal organization charged with promoting and developing Florida's aerospace industry.

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an unprecedented international competition encouraging privately funded teams to land a robotic craft on the Moon. The craft must be capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth. More information can be found at: www.googlelunarxprize.org.

â€œWe are delighted to be associated with the Google Lunar X Prize competition,â€